Business, labor pressure Obama on Keystone as highways bill looms

On the eve of the first meeting of the House-Senate transportation bill conference committee, business CEOs renewed their call for lawmakers to include legislation in the final package to give a green light to the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

"There is no good reason to further delay this important energy project. Delay only continues to deny jobs to American workers," wrote John Engler, president of the Business Roundtable, in a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who chair the two congressional transportation committees.

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The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has announced that oil and gas exploration leases for tracts in the western Gulf of Mexico –- some 4,000 blocks over 21 million acres -– will be sold in New Orleans in August, The Associated Press reports.

Air strikes on Libyan ports combined with strong German retail sales figures and a rebound in the yen against the dollar were helping oil prices recover from Monday’s sharp drop. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery gained 75 cents to $50.34 a barrel in electronic trading on the Nymex, while in London Brent jumped $1.34 to $60.88, Reuters reports.

Driller and oilfield services company Nabors Industries Ltd. has reported a net loss of $891 million in the fourth quarter after the plunge in oil prices forced it to write off almost $1.2 billion, FuelFix reports.

Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit charging that the Port of Seattle violated state law by failing to do an environmental review before signing a lease allowing Royal Dutch Shell to use the port as a base for its Arctic drilling fleet, The Associated Press reports.

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A lawsuit by beekeepers charging that the Environmental Protection Agency failed to use pesticide label regulations to protect the bee population, will be heard by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April, E&E reports.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is predicting peak demand this summer will hit a record, exceeding 69,000 megawatts, and the grid operator says it should be able to handle that, although the margin calculated is less than its preferred planning reserve, Platts reports.

The quantity of combustible gas contained in the crude oil on the train that derailed in West Virginia last month was greater than levels permissible in a new North Dakota standard set to take effect in April, according The Wall Street Journal.

A ban on the curriculum known as the Next Generation Science Standards, which teaches climate science, has been lifted in Wyoming, with Gov. Matt Mead signing a measure to do that on Monday, National Journal reports.